EST

1978

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PHILOSOPHY

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I grew up with my dad building bikes in the living room of our house. My baby photos are of me sitting on rat bikes and choppers and after a while it just became instinctual. I favored the smell of grease over flowers. My dad put me on a Honda 50 when I was 4 and I never looked back. We would spend summers in his garage taking apart bikes, polishing all the pieces and putting them back together, he would handle each piece as if it were a rare and ancient artifact all while telling me what it’s function was and how it related to life. He was quite the philosopher and at the time, to a pre teen little girl it was annoying. Once I got older I started to appreciate his life lessons more and we would ride to biker events together. When I started announcing for Supercross and Motocross races I would bring my dad with me and then when I had my son I bought him a Honda 50 for his 4th Birthday to continue the tradition.

My father passed away the summer of 2008 and it devastated me. I rode his Softtail to the funeral and then I never got on a bike again until spring of 2014. Before then my life was consumed with a motorcycle race every weekend, dealers conventions, motorcycle events and just riding but I suddenly found myself unable to go to any of those things. I changed my life completely, moved to NYC and became the director of Marketing and PR at a fortune 500 company. The stage was set for me to be the next powerful lady in business but it just wasn’t me. After 5 years of being on autopilot I woke up and moved to back Florida to find myself again. In March 2014 I took my son to Daytona Supercross. The smell of the exhaust and dirt, the excitement on my little boys face as he watched the race only assured me of where I belong. The ride home was emotional but I knew what I had to do. The next day I rented a Thruxton, rode 300 miles to a motorcycle event and bought my dad a patch to place on his grave. The following week I purchased my Iron 883 and now I ride all over the country. I was afraid that riding would be to unbearably sad to not share it with my father but strangely I feel closer now to him then I ever did before. And that’s one of the great things about motorcycles: they’re more then a form of transportation.. they're a form of transformation.

Currently I'm a journalist for some of the top motorcycle magazines and blogs. Everyday I get to test parts, gear, and motorcycles and write about it. I am also a MSF Rider Coach. On a daily I ride with an all women, all Harley riding group called The Iron Lilies and co founder for the first ever women's only event during the Sturgis Rally at the Legendary Buffalo Chip called The Wild Gypsy Tour.